Our Biggest Clean Up Yet

Our biggest swap-shop also means our biggest community clean-up. The students at Nakatindi collected a whopping 511 bags of litter from their school grounds and community!

The pupils are taught about the damaging effects of waste during our environmental education talks. We discuss the social degradation waste causes a community, the risks to neighbouring wildlife as well as the health concerns. The students are then encouraged to pick up litter from the surrounding area which can be exchanged for a donated item in our swap-shop.

We received some great donations to go into our shop. Balls, hula hoops, stuffed toys, colouring books, crayons, skipping ropes, clothes and plenty more. The best thing about our swap-shop is that the children can decide what they want, rather than simply be handed an item that they may not even need. This gives the donated item a lot more meaning and value.

This time around we asked the children to be specific about what they wanted to collect, rather than giving us a mixed bag of litter. Most pupils brought in plastics (wrappers/bags), totalling 413 separate bags full, 91 bags of bottles and 7 bags of paper. Each bag was inspected before they were allowed into the shop. The biggest challenge with our swap-shop is definitely trying to maintain control and keep the shop orderly, making sure everyone has their turn…everything can descend into chaos very easily if the children become too excited. So I was extremely grateful to the teachers at Nakatindi who gave up time in their busy schedules (they are in the middle of marking examinations) to help with the arrangements and monitoring for the day. This included bringing each class (in an orderly fashion) across to the swap-shop, making sure they lined up and then even assisted them to find the items that they wanted from the shop.

A hugely successful day, plenty of happy students and most important of all, a cleaner community. We’re all looking forward to the next one.